NEW YORK — With world discord fueling widespread distress, Ketchum has created a consultancy designed to help clients identify and support employees struggling with trauma.

The agency’s Trauma-Informed Consultancy is staffed by a team of trauma specialists who offer trainings, client counsel and communications services with the goal of equipping companies with the knowledge and resources necessary to navigate these traumatic times. Ketchum has committed to operating as a trauma-informed workplace as well.

“From the pandemic to acts of violence and hate against marginalized communities, women’s and LGBTQ+ rights issues and much more, the news has been volatile, disturbing and nonstop over the last few years. Markets, businesses, governments and communities must address the repercussions of the collective trauma of recent events,” said US CEO Jim Joseph. “We see a clear need to support our clients as they are looking for resources to respond to traumatic events — as well as address the effect it has on their own workforces.”

Executive VP Michelle Baker, Ketchum’s managing director of corporate strategic initiatives and public health, leads the multidisciplinary team, which includes experts in public health, law, psychology, and social work, as well as DEI, internal comms and analytics.

New partners include attorney Katharine Manning, author of The Empathetic Workplace; Dawn Shedrick, a licensed clinical social worker on the Columbia University faculty; and Kate Licastro, a psychologist and trauma-informed change management specialist.

“Together with our credentialed partners, we are able to provide frameworks and resources to navigate trauma for our team and clients — in workforces, communities and businesses worldwide — through trauma-informed integrated communications planning as well as real-time response,” Baker said.

Ketchum’s Trauma-Informed Consultancy is the latest in a series of corporate strategic offerings with a focus on health equity, also headed by Baker. In its second year, the firm’s work in health equity now encompasses all areas of health – government, payer, health system, pharma and nonprofits — and goes beyond healthcare into several other sectors and industries.